Fallen Destiny
by Onyx-Of-Octavia
Summary: This was inspired by a picture, and it took on a life of it's own. Edward got captured while on a mission and woke up with wings. Things never are for him. Plus he has to deal with feelings and what not, it's going to be a ride.
1. Chapter 1

The first thing he noticed when he woke was an excruciating pain in both shoulders, a fact that did little to quell the rising panic seeing that one of his shoulders was covered by a steel plate. While his shoulders bore most of the pain he soon felt the throbbing ache throughout his whole person. The young man pushed the pain to the back of his mind as much as possible, and attempted to figure out where he was. The first thing that drew his attention was, besides the pain, his shoulders also felt heavier. He gave it no mind, except the brief acknowledgment, passing it off as an effect of having his arms bound overhead for who knows how long. His wrists were trapped by a wooden stockade preventing him from pressing his palms together and freeing himself. He found his feet also chained, to what he couldn't see. The room was shrouded in darkness, no windows, only a sliver of light no bigger than a strand of twine gave any indication that there was a door.

He racked his brain, trying to remember how he ended up in his current predicament. His long bland hair fell into his eyes as he thought back to the last thing he could clearly picture in his mind. He had been sent on a mission by the brigadier general, the bastard had sent him to investigate a small, ho-dunk town a few hours outside of East City. There had been a series of reports of missing people and strange alchemical occurrences, what was odd though, was that all the missing persons weren't from the town, they were all visitors. These reports had been coming in for the last month and a half, only one of the missing persons had reappeared a few days after they had been reported missing, but the man's condition wasn't a good sign of what might've happened to the others that hadn't.

It was as he hung there, bare knees scraping the rough stone floor, that he wished he had accepted the backup he had been offered since Al was off in Xing, but his pride got the better of him and he declined, opting to go alone. He had arrived in town only the previous night, or the night before he was captured, he didn't know how long he had been locked up for. When he arrived he could immediately tell something was…off which put him on high alert. He checked into the hotel the brigadier general had booked for him, dropped his things on the bed and cleansed himself of the smell of train in a quick shower. Once clean and redressed the blond pulled his hair into a ponytail and left to gather what intel he could that night. He decided upon going to a local pub, hoping the locals might be drunk enough to let something slip while he hid away in a shadowy corner.

The only thing he learned from the pub was that the local beer was nothing to write home about. There hadn't been that many people who stopped in, and those that did were very tight lipped. He determined it was because of his presence, every time someone new sauntered in he caught the bar tender discreetly motioning to where he sat. That continued on for a little over an hour before he got so fed up with it he left.

It was clear the towns people didn't appreciate him poking around in their business, the glares and not-so-whispered comments aimed his direction were dead give aways. He returned to the hotel and turned in for the night, hoping he would have better luck in the morning. He didn't. If anything his luck was worse. Word must've spread that he was in town because the locals went out of their way to avoid him. All but one who followed the blond from the moment he left the hotel.

He should've expected something was going to happen, should have been more prepared for an attack, if he had he might not be in this situation, yet here he was. He had been jumped from behind, whoever did so was smart enough to knock him out before a real fight could begin. He blacked out, at one point he thought he remembered waking up and being strapped to a metal table, but it was such a hazy memory he couldn't be sure if it was real or not.

Heavy footsteps echoing outside of his cell brought the blond out of his reverie. They stopped at his door, the shadow disrupting the narrow strip of light confirmed this. A harsh tremor shook his body as the lock clicked open and the door swung open, blinding white light washing over him. Dull golden eyes scrunched shut, and he involuntarily tried to back away from the person darkening his doorway.

"Oh good, it seems my little bird is finally awake," a gravelly, yet also slimy voice said.

He glared at the source of the voice once his eyes had adjusted to the bright light pouring in. He was only able to discern a few identifying details as the man was back lit and thus disabling a clear view of his face. The man was a short, stout, bordering almost on circular. His patchy grey hair, or it looked grey in the lighting, reached down to his shoulders in some areas while in others it was straight up missing. The long, sickly yellow lab coat he wore brushed the floor when he stepped forward, barely fitting through the door frame.

"Who the fuck are you calling a little bird, you deranged shit? Release me and I'll show just which one of us is _little_!" the young alchemist spat, his voice scratching at his dry throat as the words were forced out.

"Good, you still have some fight left," the man said, ignoring the blond's outburst, "I was hoping you hadn't been so easily broken, where would the fun in that be? Right my little bird?" the dark laugh that followed sent the young man's stomach into knots.

"The fuck did you do to me you fucker?"

"Oh Edward," the golden eyed man jerked back, as if physically attacked, "Surprised I know your name? I guess you would be, seeing as how we've never officially met before. But that's not all I know about you Colonel Elric. You're the youngest State Alchemist in recorded history, also known as the people's alchemist, the alchemist who doesn't need a transmutation circle to perform alchemy, Roy Mustang's prodigy, the Fullmetal Alchemist. And now here you are. I had expected you to put up more of a fight when my men went to collect you. Yet all it took was one blow to the back of your pretty little head and you went down," the man said with crazed glee, "Do you know how long I've waited to get my hands on you? To see just how resilient you truly are? To see how well you would take to the alterations I had planned for your perfect body? And by what I can see, you took to the first round of, let's call them enhancements, exceptionally well. There was a question of whether or not your automail would be a problem, thankfully I was able to cut through the anchor plate and reach your shoulder blade,"

"I'll ask you one more time. What. The fuck. Did. You. Do. To me?" Ed growled out, punctuating each word with an wild snarl.

"All in due time little bird, all in due time," the man said, the smirk evident in his tone.

"Due time my ass! When I get out of here you're going to regret ever thinking of using me for your twisted experiments!"

"Ever the optimist aren't yo-" the man chuckled but was cut off by a strong vibration that shook the whole room, jarring the blond from his precarious position. "Go see what that was, now!" he yelled at the two guards who were standing outside the door. They nodded and took off towards the source of the disturbance. Seconds later Ed saw them flying passed his door, followed by an earthen fist.

"Looks like the cavalry finally found me," Ed said with a an evil gleam lighting up his eyes, the first true emotion to reach them since he woke, "I'd tell you to run, but I doubt you'd get very far,"

"We'll see Edward, my little bird, we'll see. This won't be the last time we see each other, that I can guarantee," and with that the man slipped out of the cell and disappeared into the confusion.

Not long after the demented doctor left Ed to escape, his doorway was once again filled with a shadow. This one an unmistakable, large figure. In any other case Ed would have cringed away and begged for someone else to be the one to find him, but at that moment Ed wouldn't have cared if it was the man's older sister or Scar, he was just happy that he was going to be getting out.

"Colonel Elric! I've found you!" Major Armstrong's boisterous voice boomed, "My word, what happened to you? What unspeakable tortures were you exposed to?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Ed said, his voice rough and scratchy as the adrenaline faded from his system, allowing the pain to wreak havoc upon his body once more, "How long have I been gone? Last I remember I had only just gotten here,"

"You were supposed to check in over a week ago, Fullmetal," a new, yet annoyingly familiar voice said from behind Armstrong.

"Shit..." Ed grunted.

That was the last person he needed seeing him in this state beaten and practically naked, save for the thin pair of underwear. Nor did it help that, even as pained and as screwed up as he currently was, he still felt body reacting the way it tended to do when Mustang was near by. He couldn't pinpoint when these feelings had started blossoming in him, but he did know he could never let the other man know.

A heavy silence fell between the three men, Ed couldn't see his commanding officer as Armstrong still stood in the doorway, but he knew the older man was still there. After another few tense moments the Strong Arm Alchemist stepped further into the room, followed by brigadier general Roy Mustang. Mustang held a small flame at his finger tips like one would have held a lighter, illuminating a small area around his person. His midnight blue, almost black, eyes scanned the cramped cell before falling on the chained blond in the center.

To anyone else, save a select few, the Flame Alchemist gave no outward reaction to seeing the sorry state his former subordinate was in. Edward knew otherwise, could see the small twitch at the corner of the mesmerizing eyes. Could hear the brief, yet sharp intake of breath.

"Major Armstrong, please help Colonel Elric out of his restraints and take him up and outside. Tell Havoc to take him back to the hotel and get him settled in my suite, Hawkeye should have a spare key he can use," the brigadier general said, voice tight, before turning on heel and exiting the room.

"Yes sir," Armstrong saluted, then turned back to Ed to release him.

When the blond was free he slowly moved from his knees to his feet, legs shaking from lack of use. As he righted himself he nearly fell back on his ass, his center of balance thrown off because of the strange weight on his shoulders. Armstrong caught him before he hit the dirt floor, but in doing so jostled Ed's shoulder, sending white hot pain shooting through the young man's body.

"Colonel Elric! Are you okay? I didn't mean to cause you pain!"

Ed grunted through gritted teeth, grasping the man's arm as he once again tried to stand, "I'll be fine once I get out of the shit hole,"

Armstrong nodded, and with all the grace one would expect from an Armstrong, carefully lead the young man out of the old facility, taking care to stop and let Edward catch his breath when needed, and avoiding the continued fighting between Mustang's men and the doctor's goons. The pair finally reached the exit and found Havoc talking quietly with the Lieutenant Colonel over by one of the military cars. The Strong Arm Alchemist quickly filled the other two in while Ed was helped into one of the vehicles with Fuery's assistance, receiving odd looks from all those who were present the entire time. He passed it off as concern, he could only guess how shitty he looked after being held captive and experimented on for over a week. Too tired to give much thought to anything, the blond stretched out across the back seat and let sleep claim him.


	2. Chapter 2

When Ed woke up it was to the feeling of eyes watching his every move. He was no longer in the back of the car but instead splayed out on a soft king sized bed. The room was dark, it was probably well into the night, but Ed felt wide awake. With a concentrated effort he moved himself into an upright position and let his eyes adjust to the darkness.

"Finally awake?" a deep baritone came from somewhere to his right.

The question startled the blond and he nearly fell off the bed. He managed to stop himself from crashing to the floor but in doing so he toppled back on his back which ripped a pained scream from his lungs. Warm hands were on his shoulders almost instantly, helping him into a sitting position once more.

"Are you okay?" the question, laced with unbridled concern, was a humid breath brushing over his cheek like a warm ocean breeze.

"Define okay," Ed retorted with his usual brashness.

The sudden lack of space between the two men did not slip passed Ed's notice. He found himself glad for the dark as a rose flush tinted his cheeks.

"What the fuck happened to me? And don't try to talk your way out of this, I saw the looks you and everyone else were giving me, so it's clearly something," Ed demanded, hoping to keep his voice from hitching in embarrassment.

"I think it would be best of you saw for yourself," Mustang said after a few heavy minutes of hesitation.

"Fine, let's get this over with so I can get onto hunting that asshole down and making him pay for thinking I was going to play 'experiment' for him,"

Roy nodded and helped the younger man to the bathroom, the place with a mirror large enough for him to see the full extent of what had happened. "Brace yourself," was all the warning he gave before flicking the switch, illuminating the en suite with a bright yellow light. The few moments of silence as their eyes grew accustomed to the brightness and as Ed processed the reflection in front of himself were deafening. Then his brain caught up with reality.

"That fucking shit face gave me wings?!" Ed screeched.

Roy rubbed his ear, wincing as the blond continued to shout right next to his head. Worried the blond's loud remarks and cursing would wake the entire hotel the general tried to calm his panicked comrade.

"Fullmetal, you need to calm down, you're going to wake the entire town at this rate," Mustang said in a soft voice, hoping to not provoke the younger man anymore than he already was. His words fell on deaf ears, Edward was too lost in his own mind to hear reason.

"Fullmetal!" Roy shouted, maybe a different approach would evoke some form of reaction, but still the was no sign Ed had heard him, "Edward!"

The blond had stopped shouting, thankfully, but had instead shrunk in on himself, muttering indistinguishable fragments of speech under his breath.

"Dammit Ed," the taller man huffed before taking the young colonel by the biceps and smashing their lips together. This effectively shut the blond up and earned the raven haired man a brutal slap to his jaw. He was spared a broken cheek bone as Ed had used his flesh hand and not the automail, though that didn't stop it from throbbing.

"The fuck did you do that for you creep ass perv?!"

"Would you rather I had hit you? Because that would've gone so much better," Mustang snarked.

"So you thought kissing me was the better alternative?"

"At the time, yes, I wasn't expecting you to have such a violent reaction though,"

"How the fuck else do you expect me to react when someone just randomly kisses me without my consent?!"

Mustang let an exasperated sigh and dragged a gloved hand over his face. This was not how he envisioned this conversation going, and while Ed did have a point, that didn't ease the growing tension in the room. It wasn't like he could tell the blond that the kiss had meant anything more than a means to an end lest he wish to suffer the full extent of the colonel's wrath.

"I'll admit I was out of line in my actions, but we can continue this discussion at a later time, preferably after we have gotten you back to Central without everyone finding out about your… wings," the brigadier general said.

"And just how do you suggest we do that? These aren't exactly inconspicuous," Ed stated, gesturing to the two white and gold appendages he didn't have at the start of this mission.

"I have been thinking about that problem and have come up with a couple ideas, but they all depend on what you're comfortable with and how… flexible your wings are,"

"The fuck does that mean, bastard? What do these ideas of yours entail?" Ed pressed with narrowed eyes.

"Let's return to the bedroom so we're more comfortable shall we?" Roy said, avoiding the question as he lead the blond out to the main room.

Mustang took a seat on the far end of the couch, turning the light on the table on so they weren't sitting in darkness. He motioned for Ed to join him, but the young man looked skeptical about doing so. It wasn't that he didn't want to sit down, he did, his legs were still pretty shaky from the lack of use, but he didn't know what would happen with his wings. The last few times he had been sitting his wings had not been a problem as they just hung off the edge of the bed, not being forced to bend awkwardly to accommodate a backrest. Another minute passed before Edward on the arm of the couch facing the older man, feet resting on the cushion and wings hanging to the floor.

"Are you not able to sit normally?" Roy inquired, concern mixed with something Ed couldn't place lacing his words.

"I don't know," Ed admitted quietly, averting his eyes from his former commanding officer.

"Try," the brigadier general commended gently.

Edward thought about it before eventually nodding and sliding off the armrest. Slowly, cautiously, he lowered himself to sit normally on the edge of the couch. He was surprised when his wings folded and curved along the cushion, it felt…odd, yet also natural? Confusion marred sun-kissed features as he wriggled around testing out different positions. He was fine in most, until he tilted back to lean against the backrest, the pressure it placed on his shoulders was too much on the still sensitive flesh.

So, except for leaning back, it appears you can sit normally," Roy stated, "Good, that makes things quite a bit easier,"

"Easier? How the fuck does me being able to sit normally make anything easier?"

"Because now all we have to do is hide your…wings, which, with the right clothes shouldn't be too terribly hard," the raven haired man answered, a thoughtful look in his eye as he considered the clothing situation.

And that is how Ed found himself waiting on the platform for a train to East City in a borrowed uniform from Kain and Mustang's long, black coat, alchemized to fit his more compact frame. When the train arrived he followed the brigadier general and his team to a private compartment, though most of the team didn't stay long. The air was heavy with unspoken tension, only Roy didn't seem to be on edge as he read over the reports Hawkeye had handed him when they sat down. Riza, who was typically the definition of calm, even her poker face was straining to remain in place. Havoc and Breda had left shortly after the train departed to find the dining car, and Fuery and Falman had left to find seats elsewhere to see if they could pick up any bits of information on their current situation.

"I'm going to make sure Havoc and Breda haven't gotten themselves thrown off the train, sir," the lieutenant colonel said as she rose to her feet.

"Yes, of course, try not to kill either of them if they have," Roy said, earning a snort of poorly concealed laughter from Ed.

Riza nodded and left the two men alone. Ed squirmed in his seat, his whole body was tense from nerves and not being able to properly relax wasn't helping. Nor was the fact that every time he inhaled he was met with a mixture of spices, smoke, and a scent that was uniquely Roy Mustang. A scent that made Ed's head dizzy as it reminded him of the one thing he couldn't have, even more so now that he had wings. With a dejected huff the blond tried to move so he was looking out the window, and not at the dark haired man across from him. In doing so he accidentally leaned back too far, knocking his shoulder, where the wing connected, on the weak padding of the bench.

"Fuck!" Ed growled, reaching up with his flesh hand to rub the soreness away.

"Are you okay?" Roy asked, out of his seat and kneeling before the young man.

"Fucking peachy," Ed replied, trying not to let the blush overtake his face as it wanted to do.

"Why don't you lay down? I doubt anyone will be back anytime soon, and if they do, we'll deal with it when if it comes to that," Mustang had moved over to the door and was drawing the window coverings shut and locking the door while he said this.

"Laying down isn't going to do jack shit, I'm not fucking tired, I'm fucking pissed. That sick fuck got away, or at least we haven't heard otherwise, I should've been more aware of my surroundings or this would've never happened, and it's thanks to that asswipe I can't even go after him myself! The wings fucking itch, and as much as I'm grateful Fuery had a spare uniform so I'm not wearing just my underwear under your coat, it's damn uncomfortable. Seriously, how do you all manage to do anything in these crap ass uniforms?" Ed griped, glaring at the other man as he turned around and shrugged his uniform jacket off, leaving him in a form fitting, pale blue button down, the top few buttons undone.

"Most of us have been wearing them since we enlisted," Mustang said, rolling the sleeves up to expose well toned forearms that had Ed mentally drooling.

"Well they're stupid" the blond said, turning his gaze away to try to hide the rising blush.

"Your complaint has been noted,"

"Great, so when should I expect to see something done about it?" the young man snarked, unaware of what the other man was doing. He could only attempt to sense where Mustang was, a skill he tried to learn from Ling and Lan Fan, but never fully mastered. Proof of that fact was shown when he jumped slightly as the general settled down beside him. His muscles tensed more as the Flame Alchemist tenderly pushed his jacket off the young colonel.

"Wh—what are you doing bastard?" Ed asked, mentally berating himself for stuttering like a lovesick school girl.

"I'm going to try to help you alleviate some of the pain you have, but you're going to need to relax and trust me," came the whispered reply in his ear.

A minuscule shiver ran down Ed's spine followed by another when Roy set his warm hands on the blond's shoulders. Ed wasn't sure what the general had planned, but when those hands, hands that haunted Edward's dreams in more way than one, started to work the straining muscles in his back Ed could barely hold back the pleasured moan that threatened to slip passed his chapped lips. Roy methodically worked his way down the blond's back, paying special attention to the muscles around where the wings had been surgically attached, and doing the best he could around the right side where the automail port was.

"How does your arm feel? He didn't mess with the port too much, did he?" Mustang asked.

"It feels okay," Ed answered, rolling his shoulder and flexing the arm in question, "Might call Winry to have her look at it just in case. Wait, fuck! Where the fuck am I going to stay? I can't very well stay in the dorms anymore, and a hotel would be just as bad. Fuck,"

Roy hummed in thought, Ed had a point. If anyone else caught even the briefest glimpse of the colonel's feathery new appendages he would be taken into custody and locked in a lab. He would be stripped of his rank and title and become no more than a lab rat for the military to do as they please with. Even with Grumman in the fuhrership it wasn't likely Ed would come out unscathed, and Roy couldn't, wouldn't allow that to happen.

"You can stay with me, my house is more than big enough for two people," he offered the young man.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" the winged man sighed forlornly.

"You always have a choice Fullmetal, if there is somewhere else, or someone else you'd rather stay with I can't stop you,"

Edward slumped forward, mismatched elbows resting on his knees and his ponytail falling over his left shoulder to brush against his forearm. Roy could count on one hand the number of times he could recall seeing the aureate man look so lost. Ed was usually a loud flash of black, red, and gold, always on the move, always ready for a fight, always full of life. Yet now, now he was quiet, reserved, if Roy didn't know any better he would've thought Ed had been replaced with his younger brother. He then came to the thought that whatever happened during the two weeks Edward was missing must have affected the blond more than he let on.

"Yeah, I'll stay with you, I guess. I won't have to hear you fucking random chicks every night, will I?" Ed finally said.

"No, I try to avoid bringing my dates back to my home, don't need them stalking me afterwards," the fire specialist said with a low chuckle.

"That's actually pretty smart, points to you," Ed commented sarcastically.

"I've been known to have my moments, unlike some people,"

"Anyone ever tell you you have a shit sense of humor? 'Cause you do,"

"I've been told so, yes," Roy answered dryly.

"Obviously not enough," was the reply before a comfortable silence fell between them.

The gentle sway and bump of the train lulled Mustang into a light sleep, his right hand coming to rest on Edward's left leg, right where flesh met metal. The blond ignored it, it wasn't like the bastard had put it there on purpose he thought to himself. He used this time to try to figure out what he was going to tell Al and Winry. At least with Al there was a massive desert separating them, but Winry was only a few days away by train, less if she was Rush Valley instead of Resembool.

The sun was reaching it's peak as they pulled into East City. Ed had unlocked the door shortly after Roy had fallen asleep but before he had placed his hand on Ed's thigh, just in case someone came back. No one did. Hawkeye only cracked the door open once the train been stopped for a few minutes and Ed was shaking the general awake. He had pulled the black jacket back on to hide his wings, but Roy's own jacket still lay on the seat next to him.

"Let me," Riza said, after watching the young alchemist fail, again, at waking the general.

"Go for it," he said, stepping away.

"Sir, if you're not up and off this train in the next five minutes I'll see to it myself that you never see a moment free of paperwork again," the lieutenant colonel said as she pulled out of her guns and cocked it back to load the chamber.

Mustang woke with a start at the sound and sent a weak glare at the woman.

"Good, you're awake, our next train leaves in twenty minutes, I suggest grabbing your overnight bag as it's a four day ride to Central," she stated before once again leaving the two men to their own devices.

They gathered what few belongings they had brought with them in silence, each deep in thought about the other. Roy knew he shouldn't feel the way he did for Edward, but the young man was a blinding ray of sunshine that he couldn't keep away from. He had admired the aureate man from afar, resigned to the fact that Ed would never be his for one reason or another, but something felt like it had changed between them. Now, now he felt a glimmer of hope, a small hair thin glimmer, that Roy was going to grab on to and run with.

"-stard. Hey, general bastard, you in there?" Mustang was brought out of his thoughts by Ed's voice and a metal hand waving in front of his face.

"Sorry, lost in thought,"

"Well, find your thought and get moving, I don't need Hawkeye threatening to shoot me too," Ed said, heading for the door.

The dark haired man took the advice and followed the blond off the train. They found the rest of the team mulling around on the platform, overnight bags in hand. Jean handed Roy his as they approached.

"The train is running a few minutes late sir, but it shouldn't put us too far behind schedule," Riza explained as the Flame Alchemist pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. He nodded and they began the wait.


End file.
